Calf muscles
Irish star’s training on farm helps him lift UK Strongest Man prize
more than doubled his body weight over the past 10 years.
Pa added: “I’m 23 stone now. I was 11 stone when I was 21 and started training and started putting on the weight straight away. I ate like a horse.”
In the UK’S Ultimate Strongman contest, which will be aired this week on Channel 5, he picks up 26 stone boulders with his hands and uses brute strength to bend an iron bar into a U-shape.
The toughest part of his regime is having to consume so many calories per day. In the run-up to competition, he can often down fat-laden litres of coke or tubs of ice cream to keep up the calorie count.
He said: “I eat nearly 10,000 calories a day. Sitting down to a steak dinner at 12 at night is horrible. It’s the toughest part of it having to eat so much.
“You do get so sick of it. Occasionally I’ll add in a two litre of coke or a tub of ice cream if I need to up the calorie count.”
In the hugely popular series Pa will be seen flexing his enormous strength over 15 other giants.
He added: “It is the first time in 20 years an Irishman has won the competition. I’m three-times Ireland’s strongest
Lifting a Porsche Pa with his trophy Pa carries stone boulder man and this year I became the UK’S strongest man. It’s a massive sought-after thing in the UK.”
Over the years he has had a litany of injuries but the most serious was a dislocated bone in his back last year during the competition.
Pa said: “I went back on the third day and just got on with it. It’s a strongman competition, you don’t complain.”
Now he says he has his sights set on the World’s Strongest Man competition in April and believes he disarms others with his Mcgregor-style confidence.
He added: “I walk into the middle of the dressing room and throw my bag down and say, ‘Right lads, who’s coming second today because we all know who’s coming first?’
“Straight away they’re laughing saying, ‘Shut up, Pa’, but it gets into their heads.”
He has now given up truck driving to concentrate on competing.
Pa said: “I was truck driving 60 hours a week up until February but I gave it up. It paid off.”
UK’S Strongest Man airs on Channel 5 on November 27, 28 and December 4 at 7pm.
Sitting down to a steak dinner at 12 at night is horrible – it’s tough PA O’DWYER ON HIS TRAINING REGIME
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